Tag: pork

A return visit to Kro bar, but a first visit for Mrs MOFAD. We’ve both been to Manchester separately, but this weeked was the first time we’ve been here together. Shortly after this, we are off to the Apollo for Hacienda Classical, which is exactly what it sounds like. A full orchestra playing some classic dance tracks from the glory days of the Hacienda, with Graeme Park and Mike Pickering on the decks.

Before that though, dinner, and Kro bar was perfectly situated halfway between our hotel and the venue, so we went there after my recommendation from previous visits. Nothing appears to have changed in the last 2 years, which is a good things as far as I’m concerned.

We started at the bar and ordered some drinks, a Mango Cider from Lilley’s Cider for Mrs MOFAD (sweet and easy drinking):-

and a pint of Our Town by Brightside Brewing Company for me, a bitter and hoppy ale with Columbus hops:-

On to dinner. Plenty of things to choose from, small plates to start, various hot sandwiches, Danish dogs (as in sausage, not actual dog), “Danwiches” (open sandwiches), burgers (although the schnitzel burger from my last visit has gone), salads, meat or fish platters, fish’n’chips and more. Mrs MOFAD opted for salmon and prawn papardelle, a creamy sauce with smoked salmon, prawns, peas and fresh dill served over pasta ribbons.

My choice was the Schnitzel, a breaded pork escalope served on sautéed potatoes
and topped with a fried egg and beetroot.

This was a good schnitzel, just like last time. Crisp on the outside, soft in the middle, with the sautéed potatoes following suit. A bit more salad might have been good, but a few good leaves did the job (no limp iceberg here). A decent dinner, and I’ll probably be back next year for my next Manchester trip.

More food? Yes. It is dangerous to conduct a walking tour without sufficient calories. Award winning calories are an added bonus, so when there’s a traditional pork pie available that’s been made to the same recipe for over 80 years, at a shop where they regularly queue out of the door for them, it’s got to be worth checking out.

This pork and apple pie was probably the best pork pie that I’ve ever eaten, well worth a very brief stop on the walking tour of Skipton. Perfect fuel for any walk. I wonder if there’s anywhere else round here where we can get a drink?

After a gentle bimble around Skipton this afternoon we wandered back to the hotel and then back out again for dinner. We’ve booked a table somewhere for tomorrow night (a lesson learned from 2015) but tonight we just decided to wander until we found somewhere. We didn’t take long to find our dinner destination, settling on The Narrowboat, which we’d visited as part of 2015’s walking tour of Skipton.

The first reason for visiting was because I had spotted Hawkshead’s Passion Fruit Gose on the bar. Mrs MOFAD has been looking out for this beer since it was first announced, and we missed it at this year’s Thornbridge Peakender (along with many other great beers which came and went in the blink of an eye). It looked like it was finally time to try it.

So near, and yet so far. I’d ordered it at the bar, but the last few drops dribbled out of the keg. The pub let Mrs MOFAD have it for nothing (to compensate for the sadness), and she had to choose something else. Pogo by Wild Beer Co is fruit salad with a little hop character.

My first was Sorachi by Bristol Beer Factory, a decent cask ale but for me the Sorachi Ace hop was too muted. It’s a Marmite hop but I love its flavour which is why I was looking for more here.

A gentle golden ale next, in the form of Mallisons American SIPA. A decent pint but nothing to really excite.

Just in case you weren’t sure that we were in the North. Chips and gravy. Northern gravy. Although sadly Hazel’s pie had to go back, as during the likely reheating they had burned it rather badly, and it was inedible. It was eventually replaced with pizza, but they didn’t refund the difference.

No such problems with my pizza which they got right first time. A porky fest with bacon, sausage, pulled pork and black pudding.

Black pudding is northern filth, so it was distributed to other plates… Apart from the filth, this was a tasty, porky and crisp pizza, just what I wanted on a Friday night. If that wasn’t good enough, then Mrs MOFAD was even more delighted, as they had found some more Passion Fruit Gose. Her review was simple:-

“OMG. Best. Beer. Ever.”

Fairly clear cut.

My final pint tonight was Citra Star from Northumberland’s Anarchy Brew Co, one that I’ve had before in a can, and it’s even better on cask.

A shame that they burnt the pie, and didn’t really sort the situation out properly, but we did all eventually have a nice dinner and some great beer.

Tonight is the beginning of our weekend. Regular MOFAD companions Hazel & Matt are staying with us tonight, as tomorrow morning we’re off on a road trip to Skipton. Mrs MOFAD and Hazel are off to Yarndale 2017 on Saturday, whilst Matt & I are indulging in a cultural walking tour of Skipton, perhaps checking out the odd hostelry on the way. Other regular companions Steve & Janette will be meeting us there tomorrow night.

Mrs MOFAD and I have been to the Centro lounge a few times this year, so we chose it for tonight’s dining venue.

Drinks first, and both Matt and I opted for the Bath Ales Dark Side, which is a nice easy drinking stout when it warms up a bit.

One of the advantages of Centro Lounge is that they serve their tapas menu every day, so if you fancy a mix of different things you can find plenty to choose from, rather than just plump for burger and chips or similar.

As I’ve noted before, they aren’t too tied down by the heritage of tapas, mixing traditional Spanish dishes like chicken and chorizo, albondigas (meatballs) and patatas bravas (roast spuds and tomato sauce) with dishes from another continent, such as teryaki chicken and posh KFC style chicken goujons.

Mrs MOFAD and I shared the selection above, along with the usual freshly cooked ciabatta, and Hazel & Matt also shared some dishes. We all enjoyed our tasty dinner, and spent a lot of time examining the decor, including the painting of a weird alien/monk hybrid with a boxing glove/oven glove, and some white horses frolicking in the sea… Do check out the eclectic collection of paintings if you’re visiting.

Tasty food, a reasonable pint and a friendly atmosphere, we all enjoyed ourselves and we’ll keep coming back.

It’s been a while since we had a triple pork nirvana. Well, six weeks, but it’s been a lean year for porky triples, for no particular reason, although we’ve been having a lot more salmon and eggs for breakfasts before walks which is often the starting point for any triple.

A good fry up at the pub next to the campsite this morning got the day off to a great start.

We were exploring Stroud farmer’s market in the morning and grabbed some ham and cheese sandwiches from a nearby deli. And in the evening it was back down the pub for chicken with bacon, mushrooms and a creamy garlic sauce.

You’ll never guess what this is. It’s another in that series of “camping and pubs” posts. We were camping nearby. When I say nearby, I mean literally next door, as that’s where the camp site is. This is our first of four planned visits this weekend, breakfast and dinner tomorrow and breakfast on Sunday before packing up and heading home. We’ve been here before, on a bike ride a few years ago. We were camping nearby that day too, although a little bit further away.

On to food and drink. This was a pint of Elmers by Flying Monk Brewery, based just outside Malmesbury in Hullavington, and it was a standard golden ale.

Sometimes only a pie will do. This was one of those times, a proper pub pie, and a proper acutal pie, as opposed to a casserole with some pastry balanced on top. It was very tasty (as most things filled with pulled pork tend to be), some decent veg with it too as opposed to some tired things that have been sitting in warming trays all day.

A familiar pub, but all previous visits have been in pre-MOFAD days, so it is the first time that it features here. It’s kind of handily placed for cyclists on the Monsal Trail. I say kind of, because it’s really easy to get to from the trail, as it’s just a few minutes down hill. You can get a great view of the viaduct as you pass underneath it on the way down to the pub.

If you want to get back on the trail, you have to go back up that hill. Spoiler alert : I was the only one who cycled all the way back up, the others pushed. I cycle every day, which does give me a rather unfair advantage. It’s definitely a 1st gear hill though.

Our trip over from Bakewell was calculated to get here around lunchtime, and we did just that. The overcast conditions today were not conducive to sitting outside, so we grabbed a table in the bar area by the fire (not lit!)

The beer choice was a very easy one. A pint of Pale Rider from Kelham Island Brewery, a very tasty blonde ale. The gentle companion to Easy Rider, a pair of beers that we had quite a few of back in the Swan days…

A classic pub should mean a pub classic, and a ploughmans is just that. This one was packed with classic ingredients. No need to choose from cheeses or ham, you get both. And half a pork pie as a bonus (you get quite a lot of these in a New Forest ploughmans, which is a good thing). Pickled onions, pickle, a warm, fresh roll, some more interesting leaves than just iceberg (still there though) and even a bit of beetroot. The slice of orange is less classic than some apple, but still welcome.

A lovely riverside pub (when it’s not raining outside) which does lovely food and keeps a good pint of beer. Well worth the effort of coming off (and getting back up to) the Monsal Trail. It is also a nice walk over from Tideswell (and back). Well worth a visit, and even better on a lovely sunny day. You might expect one of those in August, but not today…